Foundation at Killeedy
By the accounts of her life, Ita was born of noble lineage in County Waterford around 480; tradition records her original name as Deirdre. At about the age of sixteen she withdrew to Cluain Creadhail in County Limerick, where she gathered a small community of nuns. The settlement came to be called Killeedy, meaning the 'Church of Ita.'
Her austerity is remembered in the tradition that, although a local chieftain offered her substantial grants of land, she would accept only a few acres, which she cultivated. She is said to have received the religious veil from Bishop Declan of Ardmore.
Foster-Mother of the Irish Saints
Ita's monastery operated a school, and she became renowned as a teacher and foster-mother of children who would later be numbered among the saints of Ireland. The most celebrated of these was Saint Brendan of Clonfert, the seafaring abbot, who according to tradition was entrusted to her as a small child and remained in her care until he was about six.
The tradition also remembers that she raised her infant nephew, later venerated as Saint Mochaemhoc. She was widely sought after as a spiritual guide by the saints of her time, and her counsel to Brendan on what pleases and displeases God is preserved in her vita.
Repose and Veneration
Ita reposed around the year 570 after a life devoted to ascetic discipline. Her grave remains at the ruins of her church at Killeedy, a place of continued local devotion.
She is venerated as a saint in both the Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions, and her feast is kept on January 15. She is honored as patroness of Killeedy and, with Saint Munchin, as co-patron of the Diocese of Limerick; at the request of the Bishop of Limerick, Pope Pius IX granted a special Office and Mass for her feast.
